Auditor General accuses Alfred Mutua’s government of concealing crucial documents

- Ouko noted Machakos county executive failed to submit to his office documents he needed to prepare full financial statements

- He said the county government was yet to supply him with trial balance for two consecutive financial years

- The county failed to submit payment vouchers and documents used in the acquisition of assets worth of KSh 263 million

- The county spent KSh 62 million as part of payment for 19 vehicles whose logbooks could not be produced

- Also missing were documents to support KSh 91 million legal fees which the county executive claimed was spent during 2016-2017 FY

- And that was just a tip of the iceberg

The Auditor General, Edward Ouko, has accused Machakos county government of deliberately and repeatedly failing to submit crucial documents to the independent oversight bodies for accountability as required by law.

Ouko noted the Alfred Mutua-led county government failed to submit to his office all the documents he needed to prepare complete financial statements for both 2015-2016 FY and 2016-2017 FY.

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Audit reports seen by TUKO.co.ke on Thursday, January 17, and which can be accessed via the Office of the Auditor General's website cited numerous incidents where the Auditor General's officewas denied access to trial balance despite glaring errors and inaccuracies in the county's records.

According to the Auditor General, the numbers were not adding up in most instances and the county's executive was not willing to explain or support its own records.

For auditors, failure to submit trial balance is usually a sign that someone is hiding information or has done something wrong.

"A trial balance is a primary reference point for information in the final financial statements. Failure to submit one is a major warning sign to auditors. The public should be deeply concerned about such recurring audit observations," says Emmanuel Nzioki, Certified Public Accountant and Member of Masaku Professionals Association.

The Auditor General was equally concerned that KSh 7 million was spent as part payment for supply, delivery and installation of 250 greenhouse units but no records were provided to show the number of greenhouses supplied and delivered.

In addition, the county government failed to submit a copy of a KSh 32 million contract with supplier for a stone crusher at Katangi.

The 32 million stone crusher had been paid for yet no benefits had accrued to the intended beneficiaries more than a year after the expenditure.

The Auditor General also expressed concerns about transparency of the procurement process that led to the award of the stone crusher contract.

With respect to the procurement and installation of KSh 88 million solar water pumps, the county government failed to provide a bill of quantities to indicate cost estimates and specific requirements of the boreholes.

Contracts signed with suppliers lacked specifics such as number of boreholes, delivery dates and locations of the boreholes.

The Auditor General was also denied access to minutes of related procurement meetings in some of the cases.

The county government also failed to submit statements for its bank accounts held at the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and the Cooperative Bank.

Ouko was also not shown bank reconciliation statements for all but one out of seven bank accounts.

The Auditor General was only furnished with reconciliations for an account labeled “CBK-Development”, but even for this account, there were inconsistencies between the reconciliation and the cash book.

The Auditor General further took note of KSh 209 million transfer to the Machakos County Bursary Fund.

On this he expressed concern that administrators of the County Bursary Fund and the County Social Welfare Fund had not submitted financial statements related to the funds contrary to the law.

TUKO.co.ke understands Article 229 of the Constitution requires the Audit report to be prepared within six months after end of the financial year.

The Constitution further stipulates that: "Within three months after receiving an audit report, Parliament or the County Assembly (in case of county government audits) shall debate and consider the report and take appropriate action."

The Machakos County Assembly was thus expected to act appropriately on the concerns raised in the 2016-2017 FY Audit report by April 2018.

Additional reporting by Trizah Mwikali

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